How Louis C.K. and 4 Other Famous Comics Spent Their Unknown Years

A timeline

Louis C.K.

1984

C.K. does his first standup gig at age 17 at an open-mic night in Boston. He runs out of material for his five-minute set after two minutes and is so discouraged he doesn't try again for two years. Meanwhile, he holds down some terrible day jobs. The comedian told Reddit in 2011, "The last jobs I had were fixing cars and covering football games for a local access TV station. As in driving the mobile van to the field, setting up three cameras, teaching depressed grownups and interns how to use them, and directing the game from the van and then wanting to kill myself."

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1987

The comedian becomes more confident on the stage and begins doing standup regularly, including the now-famous performance by a 20-year-old C.K. at Catch a Rising Star in Boston.

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1989

He officially moves from Boston to New York City and lands his first writing gig for Caroline's Comedy Hour at club Carolines. The cable show is hosted at the time by Colin Quinn, and C.K. works alongside fellow writers Jon Stewart and Dave Attell.

1993

C.K. is famously rejected by Saturday Night Live, a show he hosted earlier this year. His audition is at Catch a Rising Star in NYC and doesn't go quite as he'd hoped. "I was going broke, and SNL was like the last chance, the last boat leaving, so Dave Attell, Laura Kightlinger, Sarah Silverman, Jay Mohr, and me and a bunch of other people all auditioned," C.K. said in an interview in 2006. "I remember that I was put first on the show, and the SNL people hadn't shown up, and the guy that ran Catch, Louis Faranda, was trying to put me on anyway. He was like, 'Go on.' Jon Stewart was there and he offered to go on and stall for me, which he did. It made a difference, because I went on and I had a really solid, good set, and then over the following week, Laura Kightlinger got cast, Dave Attell, Sarah, Jay, everybody but me [got cast], like everybody that was on that [showcase] but me."

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1993

The comedian's actual big break comes later that year when he's hired as the head monologue writer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

1995

C.K. is hired as a writer on Late Show with David Letterman.

1996

The comedian becomes head writer on The Dana Carvey Show, a short-lived sketch comedy series that also starred Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.

1997

C.K. lands a gig as a writer on The Chris Rock Show, where he stays for two years. The comedian was initially offered the job a year earlier but he'd turned it down to join The Dana Carvey Show, which lasted only eight episodes. He also pens some strange and not-so-seen movies, including a bizarre black-and-white one called Tomorrow Night that the comedian later released for download on his website.

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2001

C.K. writes Pootie Tang, a movie based on a sketch from The Chris Rock Show. He hopes to direct the film but is eventually fired off the movie by Paramount. In a press panel at the Television Critics Association a few years ago, C.K. said, "I got to make a movie finally, which was my dream, and it was terrible, and then it got made even more terrible, and then it came out, and I was just hated. I mean, the first time I was known by a lot of people was because I made a bad movie." The film eventually comes out in June of 2001 with C.K. still credited as the director.

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August 2005

By 2005, C.K. stars in a half-hour HBO special called One Night Stand (his first hour-long televised standup special, Shameless, finally arrives in 2007, nearly 25 years after he got started).

Sarah Silverman

1987

Silverman performs her first standup gig at age 17 at Stitches in Boston while doing a summer-school program at Boston University. Silverman recounted the experience in her book, writing, "My set was pretty successful. I told some jokes about high school and ended the gig with a song about being flat-chested, which at the time I was."

1992

After moving from New Hampshire to New York City, Silverman begins doing standup around town. One iconic performance is this one from An Evening at the Improv in 1992.

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1993

Twenty-two-year-old Silverman is hired as a writer and featured played on Saturday Night Live. She's fired after only one season because none of her sketches makes it to air.

1995

The comedian joins the cast of Mr. Show, where she spends several seasons as a featured performer alongside David Cross and Bob Odenkirk.

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1996

Silverman scores a two-episode arc on Star Trek: Voyager as Rain Robinson. Writer/producer Bryan Fuller later admitted that Silverman almost got a career on the show. Fuller tweeted that "producers considered making [Silverman] a regular after her S3 turn as a plucky present day astronomer."

1997

Silverman's first film role is in indie movie Who's the Caboose?, a comedy that also starred Cross, Andy Dick, and Marc Maron. The film followed a couple who travel to LA for pilot season and was later followed up with a six-episode miniseries, Pilot Season, that aired in 2004.

1998

Silverman plays Brenda in There's Something About Mary. It's a bit role as a friend of Mary (Cameron Diaz), but still a memorable one.

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2002

After appearing as a guest on various TV shows, including V.I.P., Silverman lands a role on Greg the Bunny, which also stars Seth Green. The show, about a rabbit puppet, only lasts for 13 episodes.

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2005

Silverman's now-infamous comedy movie Jesus Is Magic comes out. The film consists of a taped standup special, acted vignettes and songs, and also features Odenkirk and Brian Posehn. The movie set the tone for Silverman's comedy that followed. She toldVanity Fair last year, "For better or for worse, I absolutely do not think pragmatically about standup or my comedy. That's gross to me and I would never have that impulse. It's always what interests me now and what makes me laugh, and trying that out. After I did Jesus Is Magic, I really loved that arrogant ignorance. The ignoramus who is being arrogant."

2007

The comedian finally scores her own TV series, The Sarah Silverman Program, which runs for three seasons until 2010. The show gets nominated for an Emmy, a GLAAD Media Award, and two Writers Guild Awards.

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Amy Schumer

2004

Schumer's first standup gig takes place at Gotham Comedy Club in NYC. She later discussed the performance while taping Last Comic Standing, saying, "It was actually pretty painless because I wasn't expecting very much from myself. Some friends are there, and my mom, so it was kind of like there was nowhere to go but up. But I still have that tape, and it's really, really painful to watch. But it was good, it was a good first experience to have on stage."

2007

Schumer is cast on the fifth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing and places fourth in the standup competition series. Following the show, she goes on a 42-city tour with the other cast members. "That was like comedy boot camp, so that shaved off a couple years that it would have taken me to do that on the road," Schumer told The A.V. Club in 2012. "So, for someone who has been doing this for just under eight years, I'm doing pretty well, because I've gotten those opportunities."

The comedian scores a job in a Butterfinger commercial as part of the brand's campaign to use humor to sell candy, alongside two other comics from Last Comic Standing.

2010

Schumer co-hosts Fuse series A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus, which features interviews and performances by musicians. The show's title is changed to Hoppus on Music the following year and Schumer is dropped as co-host for the new season.

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2011

The comedian takes her wry humor to the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen. She appears on the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne Barr the following year.

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2013

Inside Amy Schumer, a show combining sketches, standup, and on-the-street interviews, premieres on Comedy Central to immediate acclaim and high ratings. The series airs its second season in early 2014 and is renewed for a third. The show is praised for its highlighting of female comics. Schumer toldEntertainment Weekly last year, "I'm aware of the fact that there aren't many female comedians who have television shows, and I know that there are not an equal proportion of female comedians to males. There's no question, there are very few female comedians making it on the road compared to male comics. I know that I'm a prominent female comedian right now and that people aren't all that exposed to female comics, so I feel the weight of it."

Nick Kroll

2002

Kroll performs at his first open-mic night to fulfill a New Year's resolution. The comedian quickly begins blending standup with characters. He told The A.V. Club in 2011, "I started doing standup for a bit, and then I focused more on the characters and then came back, but every time from 2002 on, getting onstage, holding a mic, and talking to an audience. Then going back and forth trying to do standup and then trying to do characters, then figuring out where the two sort of met together."

2004

TV series Things I Hate About You, based off the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, gives Kroll his first onscreen vehicle as a juror.

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2006

The comedian launches a recurring monthly comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NYC with John Mulaney called "The Oh Hello Show" in which the duo play divorced Jewish men in their 50s living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

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2007

Kroll is also cast on ABC sitcom Cavemen, based on the GEICO commercials, and moves to LA to pursue comedy and acting. The show is canceled after 13 episodes. Later Kroll wrote on his website, "A lot of people thought it was a terrible idea for a TV show. A few people thought it was a great idea. I just needed a job acting on TV and this was the one I got. I can't say that I was sad when it got canceled."

That same year Kroll also channels his character Fabrice Fabrice on the red carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards as on-camera talent for MTV.com, interviewing celebrities like Sarah Silverman, Robin Thicke, and Akon. The flamboyant character also appears on sketch-comedy show Human Giant and at the MTV Movie Awards.

2008

Kroll appears on VH1's Best Week Ever for several episodes to give commentary on important cultural things like the finale of American Idol.

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2009

Kroll is cast as Rodney Ruxin on The League, a show about fantasy football that also stars Paul Scheer and Mark Duplass. The series will go into its fifth season this fall on FXX.

2010

The comedian earns some bit parts in a few comedy movies, including as the maître d' inDate Night and a record-label employee in Get Him to the Greek. He also plays a doctor in Young Fockers.

2011

Kroll records a standup special called Thank You Very Cool for Comedy Central. The movie includes several of his characters, including Fabrice Fabrice and Bobby Bottleservice. Kroll said in an interview about the special, "The goal was to sort of do what I do, which is a mix of characters, sketches, and standup, and present it all in one in the hope it would come across as something new, and more importantly just representative of the kind of different things that I do. Hopefully it tells a story of an evening from a bunch of different voices that ends up showcasing what my voice is."

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2013

Comedy Central picks up Kroll Show, a sketch comedy series featuring all of Kroll's collected characters from over the years. The series also stars Jenny Slate, Jon Daly, and John Mulaney, and is picked up for a second season almost immediately. The show will air its third season early next year.

Bill Hader

2004

Hader graduates from the Second City comedy troupe in LA. Hader said later, "I was trying to be a filmmaker. I was doing Second City classes as a way to be creative. I was a PA for a long time. I was working as an assistant editor on Iron Chef America when I got SNL. It was one of those situations where you're concentrating in one thing and the peripheral thing popped."

2005

The comedian is cast as a featured player on Saturday Night Live, where he remains for eight seasons, after being suggested to Lorne Michaels by actress Megan Mullally. Hader becomes best known for his celebrity impressions, including Clint Eastwood and James Carville, and for his Weekend Update character Stefon. Hader later talked about joining the cast, saying that it was mostly a happy accident. "I never was one of those people in improv class going, 'Someday I'm going to be on SNL,'" he said. "I never dreamed of it. I thought the best-case scenario was I would have a cool once-a-week show at iO West [Theater]. I'm serious. And then maybe my friends and I could do videos and put them online."

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2006

Hader scores his first film role in the Owen Wilson flick You, Me and Dupree as a character named Mark.

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2007

The actor is cast in a few more movies, including Hot Rod and Knocked Up. He plays Officer Slater in Superbad alongside Seth Rogen.

2008

Hader appears in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder. He also lends his voice to video game Grand Theft Auto IV.

2009

In Adventureland, Hader embodies one of the movie's most memorable characters as an assistant manager of an amusement park. Kristin Wiig, Hader's SNL co-star, plays his wife.

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2010

Hader, who is known for his many voiceover roles, voices the announcer in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Most notably Hader is responsible for the iconic "K.O." sound in the film.

2012

Mindy Kaling offers Hader a recurring role on her new Fox TV series The Mindy Project. Hader plays Mindy's dentist ex-boyfriend Tom McDougall in the pilot episode and later comes back for several more episodes.

2013

Hader announces that he's leaving SNL. The comedian has since been pursing movie projects, including Judd Apatow's 2015 flick Trainwreck with Amy Schumer, and David Wain's upcoming comedy They Came Together.

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